Les Vepres

Marcel Dupre - Organ Works, Volume 5 - Ben van Oosten (2003) {MDG 316 0955-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 266 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 179 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2003 MDG | MDG 316 0955-2
Classical / 20th Century / Organ

This CD is really of excellent quality - musically like a record, and of course Ben van Oosten played here at the highest level. Dupre definitely knew what he was doing. This music is reminiscent of art rock and perfectly demonstrates the potential of the instrument. This is music of great size and monumentality. I think that with the help of this music it is impossible to achieve the same sound and the same scale on every other instrument. For some pieces of music on this CD, I like Ben van Osten's performance much better than Michael Murray's.

The present installment of Arturo Sacchetti’s encyclopedic Organ History survey for Arts Music drops anchor in late-19th/early-20th-century France. It can be argued that the five instrumental sections from Satie’s Mass for the Poor that open this recital lose poignancy when shorn of their surrounding vocal movements, although the organ is a perfect instrument for the composer’s quirky, instantly identifiable harmonic language. By contrast, D’Indy’s Les Vêpres du Commun des Saints, Roussel’s Prélude et Fughetta, and Honegger’s Deux Pièces pour Orgue make an arid, academic impression. After Wayne Marshall’s pulverizing speed through the Pastorale by Roger-Ducasse (Virgin Classics), Sacchetti’s relatively conservative virtuosity proves less engaging. However, his incisive hand/foot coordination enliven Tournemire’s Improvisation on “Te Deum” and Langlais’ Hymne d’Actions de grâces “Te Deum”, although the latter yields to Andrew Herrick’s more vivid and better engineered traversal on Hyperion. Organists looking for an effective, unhackneyed encore should consider Ibert’s Musette or Milhaud’s Pastorale.

Even in a field crowded with first-rate composers, Marc-Antoine Charpentier held his own in eliciting the royal favor of Louis XIV. After listening to this superlative disc collecting Charpentier's works dedicated to St. Louis, one understands why. As performed in the chapel of Versailles by Olivier Schneebeli leading Les Pagies and Les Chantes in compelling performances, this disc demonstrates Charpentier's greatest strengths as a composer, the combination of might and majesty with just a touch of sentimentality that appealed to the sovereign's elevated emotions. The boys of Les Pagies are sprightly and delightful. The men of Les Chantes are robust and wonderful.